ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine men's hockey team will close out the regular season this weekend when it travels to No. 20/RV Boston College for a pair of key Hockey East games on Friday and Saturday. The call of both games can be heard online or on 103.9 FM, 101.3 FM, 1450 AM or 1310 AM. Both games will be streamed on ESPN3.
 

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GAME INFORMATION
Game #33: Maine Black Bears at Boston College Eagles
DATE: Friday, Feb. 23, 2018
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Conte Forum - Chestnut Hill, Mass.
2017-18 RECORDS: Maine 16-12-4 (10-9-3 HEA), BC 16-13-3 (16-6-0 HEA)
Game #34: Maine Black Bears at Boston College Eagles
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Conte Forum - Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Maine game notes

About the Black Bears    
• Maine hosted Boston College on Feb. 17 in the final regular season game at Alfond Arena, coming up on the short end of a 5-0 score.
• The Black Bears had traveled to rival UNH just days prior, skating away with an overtime comeback win, 4-3, on Feb. 14.
• Keith Muehlbauer scored 28 seconds into the first period before the Wildcats potted three unanswered goals to hold a 3-1 lead after two periods, but Cedric Lacroix scored with 6:36 to play before Mitchell Fossier tied it up two minutes later and then won it with 21 seconds left in overtime; Jeremy Swayman finished with 37 saves for Maine in his 13th win of the season.
• Maine went toe-to-toe with No. 8 Providence on Feb. 9 but Scott Conway scored with 48.6 seconds left in overtime to give the Friars a 3-2 home win; Swayman finished with 39 saves while Ryan Smith and Chase Pearson found the net.
• The weekend prior, Maine split two overtime Hockey East tilts with Merrimack, winning 4-3 on Feb. 2 before falling 3-2 on Feb. 3.
• Brendan Robbins tallied his first career hat trick and Patrick Shea tipped home the game-winning goal 20 seconds into overtime for the win but Maine's comeback bid on Feb. 3 fell short.

About the Eagles
• The Eagles topped Maine, 5-0, on Feb. 17 at Alfond Arena to remain in the top spot in the Hockey East standings.
• BC was coming off a 5-2 win at UMass on Feb. 15, with Julius Mattila notching a game-high three points on two goals and one assist while Joseph Woll made 28 saves for the win.
• BC enters Fridays's game with the top-ranked scoring conference offense at an average of 3.23 goals per game and with a scoring defense that sits tied for second at 2.23 goals per game allowed.
• While the Eagles don't have any players among the top 90 individual scorers in the nation, they do have 13 players in double-digit scoring while 21 of their 23 players that have suited up this year – including goaltender Ryan Edquist – have registered at least one point.
• The Eagles started the year 1-5-1 in their first seven games before going 7-0-0 in their next seven to climb into the national poll equation.

The Series with the Eagles
• Maine and Boston College have squared off 123 times prior to Friday's game, with the Eagles holding an edge of 47-67-9 in the all-time series after last Saturday's 5-0 win at Alfond Arena.
• BC and Maine first met on Dec. 11, 1979, with Gary Conn's game-winning goal and Jim Tortorella's 27 save performance helping the Black Bears to a 6-3 road win.
• The Eagles swept last season's two-game series, taking a battle at Portland's Cross Insurance Arena, 6-1, on Nov. 4 before edging the Black Bears at home the next night, 3-2.
• There has only been one scoreless meeting between Maine and BC: a 0-0 tie coming on Jan. 1, 1998 at the Conte Forum, with Maine's current assistant coach Alfie Michaud making 42 save for the shutout.
• The Black Bears have been blanked six times in the all-time series, as have the Eagles.

About Head Coach Red Gendron
• Red Gendron, who enters his fifth year behind the bench of the Black Bears, has won two NCAA Hockey National Championships and a NHL Stanley Cup as an assistant coach.
• He assisted head coach Shawn Walsh with the UMaine 1993 NCAA Division I National Championship team.
• Before being named the head coach of the Black Bears, Gendron was associate head coach at Yale University; the Bulldogs earned the 2013 NCAA Division I National Championship.
• Prior to Gendron's two seasons at Yale, from 2005-11, he was an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts.
• Gendron spent 11 seasons in professional hockey with the New Jersey Devils organization.

National Stat Check
• As a team, Maine's 3.16 goals per game average is 12th in the country.
• Black Bear blue liners are averaging .62 goals per game, which is 11th in the country.
• Freshman goaltender Jeremy Swayman is third in the nation among rookies with 13 wins.
• Swayman's .922 save percentage is 10th in the country, second in Hockey East and fourth nationally amongst rookie netminders.

A Unique Hat Trick
• Brendan Robbins tallied his first career hat trick in Maine's 4-3 overtime win against Merrimack on Feb. 2.
• Robbins scored an even-strength goal in the first period and then converted a penalty shot and tallied a short-handed goal in the second.
• The penalty shot conversion was one of 12 in NCAA men's DI hockey this season.
• Of the 146 hat tricks scored this season and last (68 this year, 78 during the 2016-17 season), Robbins' is one of three to include a penalty shot conversion, joining Brock Voeser of North Dakota an Vinni Lettieri of Minnesota, who both did it last year.
• Maine's last hat trick (Nolan Vesey) and last penalty shot goal (Blaine Byron '17) had both come on Feb. 25, 2017 in a 5-4 win over Northeastern.

It's Worth Noting…
• Maine has 12 players in double-digit scoring and has received goals from 19 different players, assists from 21 and points from 21.
• Mitchell Fossier (11-17—28) is tied for seventh in Hockey East in scoring while classmate Chase Pearson (7-20—27) tied for ninth.
• Maine has scored a goal in all three periods in nine games this season.
• The Black Bears are 5-0-1 this season when Patrick Holway finds the back of the net and 10-1-1 overall when he tallies at least one point.

Overtime!
• Maine's 4-3 overtime win over New Hampshire on Feb. 14 marked the first time in program history that Maine has played four-straight overtime games.
• The Black Bears are 2-2-0 in that four-game stretch, topping UNH and Merrimack (4-3) but falling to Providence (3-2) and Merrimack (3-2).
• Maine has played nine overtime games this season, but the program record for extra time tilts in a season is 11 (2001-02; 2012-13).

Border Battle, cont.
• Maine's 4-3 overtime win at New Hampshire on Feb. 14 gave the Black Bears the season series with a 1-0-2 record.
• The win also marked Maine's first overtime road win since a 3-2 victory at Vermont on Oct. 30, 2010.
• It was Maine's eighth ever overtime win against the Wildcats in 18 overtime tilts (8-2-8).

Second Period Goals
• Maine has notched 23 goals on the road in the second period to lead the league and sit second nationally.
• The Black Bears scored in the second period in their first 13 straight road games, until that streak came to an end on Feb. 14 at UNH.
• Maine's 40 second period goals overall is second in the conference behind Northeastern (42) and seventh in the country.
• The Black Bears have scored a goal in the second period in 24 out of 32 games played this season.